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Corey307 t1_j3udqd1 wrote

OP you’re the one that brought up climate change, bearing powerlines wouldn’t just be expensive but it would generate a great deal of pollution. All that digging is done by gas and diesel powered vehicles. Plus I looked it up, the old above ground lines cannot be repurposed for underground usage since they give off heat so you’re talking about scrapping all the powerlines in the state. Yes it would get recycled but recycling isn’t free, removing, transporting and recycling the lines burns fossil fuels. So your plan to future proof for climate change worsens climate change.

The recent statewide power outages we’re wild and yes most of it could’ve been avoided with buried power lines. But I kept track of the outages and 99% of the state had its power restored within three days, my house took two. And talking to people have been here longer than me this doesn’t seem like a common problem where half of the houses in the state lose power. This state doesn’t have a lot of money and burying powerlines cost several times more than above ground powerlines so that expense is going to get passed on to the average citizen to solve for an in frequent and very short term problem.

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PuddleCrank t1_j3urksk wrote

You can't reuse the lines because the underground lines require insulation that the above ground lines do not. Additionally you must have redundancy because it takes weeks to replace under ground lines vs hours for overhead lines.

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UnfairAd7220 t1_j3uz8m8 wrote

That 'insulation' is called a dielectric.

The dielectric is sulfur hexafluoride. You can watch some amusing videos about what happens when people breathe it in.

Unfortunately, its, perhaps, the strongest greenhouse gas known to man and resides in the atmosphere for 3200 years.

That material should be banned on Earth. On Mars it'd be a desirable terra forming gas. Here? its a forever nightmare compound.

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star_tyger t1_j3unhs5 wrote

I don't agree that it's a short-term problem. Historical data doesn't mean much given climate change. I agree that burying power lines isn't a cheap or simple solution, and I'm not arguing for it. However, it would be reasonable to expect storms and power outages to get worse.

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